Should The County Purchase Wally & Bee's?

At Tuesday's County Board meeting, our main issue will involve whether or not to purchase Wally & Bee's, so that it can be added to Glacial Hills County Park.  Last fall, our Public Works Committee authorized the County Administrator and his staff to enter into discussions about this very question, and this Tuesday they will report back to the full board on the status of negotiations (in a closed session). 

Once we hear back from them, I will be deciding how I will vote on this (and 25 other Supervisors will be making that same decision for themselves).  We might vote to buy it, or if it does not look like a fair deal we might vote to continue negotiating or break off all negotiations.

Some key factors:

• The project would add a beach to the County Park, and would also convert a privately-owned boat launch to a County Boat launch.
• For larger boats, this boat launch is the only useable boat launch in that lake system.  The local community is very invested in maintaining access to this boat launch for that reason, and converting it into a county park is the most favored option for accomplishing that.
• The original asking price from the owners was around $1 million dollars, which I know is an expensive price tag.
• The Parks Department last fall had estimated a need for spending around $1 million to improve the land, remove the par, and covert it to park use.  This brings the total project cost to around $2 million.
• The County has had an interest in purchasing this land for several decades.
• We implemented the park sticker program with the goal of improving our priority parks, like Glacier Hills.
• The owners are looking to retire, and have the property actively listed for sale.
• The appraised value (which we will find out on Tuesday).
• After a year of negotiating, many of these numbers have probably changed.  We will get the update on Tuesday.

We are not alone in this endeavor.  There is significant financial assistance coming from the DNR, the Village of Richfield, and the local homeowners association.  Many homeowners are willing to put in some of their own money towards this project.  One homeowner who contacted me this week specifically pledged $5,000 of his own money towards this project. 

Last fall, this financial assistance was at a level where is would cover almost 2/3rds of the total cost ($1.25 million in outside assistance) leaving the county to fund only $750,000.  That's still a lot of money, but it is a lot better than having the County on the hook for the full $2 million.

Information Gathering

To research this issue, I went out to Wally & Bee's and took a look at what we would be buying.  After all, sometimes seeing things first-hand is best.  I also surveyed the other boat launch, and confirmed that it really is only useable for smaller boats.  You can see the narrow channel, and with the snow-cover it is difficult to gauge just how narrow that channel might be.

I also pulled up a few sometime pictures from their website and the internet:

I also took some pictures of the other boat launch.  You can see the channel the boats have to maneuver through to reach the lake.

After reviewing all of this, if you are from my district and have thoughts on this issue, please contact me.

Update, at the County Board the decision was made to explore converting the lakeshore to an easement, which would ensure public boating access to the lake without buying the rest of the bar, or the 4 acres behind it (Wally & Bee's owns a narrow 5 acre strip of land).